Tag: movies & tv shows

Avengers: Endgame is coming out today here and I absolutely can’t believe it! The wait went by so slowly and so quickly at the same time and just like for Avengers: Infinity War, I don’t feel like I’m even mentally ready to watch this movie, as it is the end of an era (plus three hours? How am I going to make it through three hours? I have no idea).

So, in honour of Avengers: Endgame coming out today (I’m watching it in three hours, everybody stays calm), I thought I would talk about my favourite Marvel characters, whether I discovered them through the movies, comics or TV shows. As I came up with this list, I realized that most of my favouritecharactersaren’t that present in the movies? I do havecharacters I love from the movies, but I somehow feel closer to the ones I’ve read about/watched in the TV shows. I consider Captain America and Thor to be my favourite Avengers and yet, neither of them are among my favouritecharacters? Making this list was really surprising because of this, but anyway. Without further ado, let’s jump right into this!

Peggy Carter/Agent Carter

I admired Peggy Carter from the first moment she appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger, where she was an officer working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) on the super soldier project, a clever and powerful woman in a man’s world. As Hayley Atwell, who portrays her in the MCU, said, “she can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels” and that’s all I needed. Later on, Peggy became a respected agent in the SSR (even though men tried to undermine her) and solved important cases in America after World War II, in the amazing show that was Agent Carter (#foreversalty 😭). Credited as one of the founders of SHIELD, Peggy Carter was such a modern woman for her time and I aspire to be more like her. She even became Captain America at some point (which will be in a TV series, I’m so happy), truly, she is the best.

Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel

When I got into reading more comics, I started reading Ms. Marvel (2014) and discovered Kamala Kham, a teenage Pakistani American from Jersey City, New Jersey, whom I adore so much. She discovers she has Inhuman genes and gets shapeshifting abilities, assuming the mantle of Ms. Marvel from her idol Carol Danvers after Danvers becomes Captain Marvel. I adore seeing her life as a teenage girl on top of her superheroine life: Kamala is such a relatable and hilarious character!

Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen

I got around reading the Spider-Gwen (2015) comics last summer and while I did find them confusing at first, I adored this version of Gwen Stacy so much! Now that Into the Spiderverse came out, more and more people are familiar with the Spiderverse, so basically, Gwen gets the spider-abilities in her universe (Earth-65) and it all goes down from there! Gwen is such a sassy and empowering character, along her friends and music group, The Mary Janes! I do relate to her vulnerability as well, especially when she ends up disappearing and not giving news to her loved ones, so there’s that as well. I’m so happy she was Into the Spiderverse last year, this movie was so amazing!

Nadia van Dyne/the Wasp

Around the time Ant-Man and the Wasp was released last year, I got more curious about the Wasp and ended up discovering one of the Wasps, Nadia van Dyne, who is so adorable and whom I love her with all my heart! She is the daughter of Hank Pym and Maria Trovaya, his first wife, who was abducted and supposedly killed. She escapes from where she was held captive, builds a Wasp costume, learns her father is dead, but meets Janet van Dyne (the original Wasp) who helps her as she can. Nadia later starts the program G.I.R.L. (Genius In action Research Labs) to look for women with genius intellects and it is the best program ever, reading about these amazing women saving the world is the best and I’m so happy that they ended up renewing the series (it had beencancelled).

Peter Quill/Star-Lord

Last but not least, I have to confess that I adore Peter Quill/Star-Lord (but not his actor, haha). I know that many people dislike him because of Infinity War, but here’s the thing: he’s human and considering his backstory… I just get it. I love MCU!Peter Quill for his taste in music, his humor and how flawed he is, I love comics!Peter Quill for he is vulnerable and a master strategist, plus I love his relationship with Kitty Pride so much. Tbh, both versions of him have those personality traits, but some of them shine more in the movies or comics, depending.

Honorable mentions

Those characters that will probably become new favourites once I know more about them (aka when I’ve read more comics)…

That’s it for me today! Good luck to everyone watching Avengers: Endgame, we’ll make it through and let’s hope our hearts won’t be too broken when we get out of the theaters.

What about you, are you planning on watching Avengers: Endgame? Who are your favourite Marvel characters?

It’s probably been two months since I published anything on here, so hello again! I have been really busy trying to balance working full time at my internship, still having uni work to do and everything else in the past two months, but I now have so many ideas of what I want to talk about on here and I am beyond excited! That being said, I have some big (to me) blogging news, because my blog now is… *drum rolls* self-hosted! I was on Blogger for the past three and a half years, but have always dreamed of being self-hosted. With Google+ closing and my comments being a little bit messy because of it, I decided to finally take the big jump, so here am I!

I’m a bit late on everything and really need to catch up, so without further ado, here is my wrap-up for both February and March!

I haven’t read as much as I usually do since the beginning of the year, but I have found that I don’t mind that much. February was a nice reading month overall and I was so happy with what I read, which included:

Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham, 4/5 stars

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, 3.5/5 stars

Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers, 3.5/5 stars

The Familiars by Stacey Halls, 4/5 stars

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, 4/5 stars

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, 5/5 stars

In February, I was so happy to fall in love with The Thirteenth Tale, which was such an amazing gothic novel and an ode to one’s love for books. This story really stuck with me and I am beyond excited to watch the adaptation now (it stars Olivia Colman, Sophie Turner and Vanessa Redgrave)!

In March, as part of Women’s History Month, I decided that just like last year, I would only read books written by women and I ended up reading:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, 5/5 stars

Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Mean to Them curated by Scarlett Curtis, 3/5 stars

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, 3/5 stars

My reading month started on such a high with The Priory of the Orange Tree, which is now my favourite book of the year and one of my favourite books of all time! I adore this world so much, the characters mean a lot to me and I already wanted to reread it after a few pages into it. *sigh* I miss it.

I’m also still currently reading Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon, which I’m adoring and I cannot wait to finish it.

TV SHOW // One Day at a Time (season 3)

A few days before my birthday, the third season of One Day at a Time was released and it was the best early birthday present I could have asked for. This third season was absolutely amazing, as the previous ones: it talked about so many important subjects and did it so well (I’m so happy they talked about anxiety attacks, even though it was really hard to watch that episode) and I will always love the Alvarez family with all my heart. Since then, Netflix has announced that they had cancelled the show and I still can’t accept it: the show deserves more and us, the audience, deserve more. It feels like Netflix never gave the show its fair chance by promoting it and we, the viewers, had to do it all. the. time. I’m still trying to hope, but I’m so heartbroken they decided to cancel one of my favourite shows…

MISC. // Watching the Oscars live

Watching the Oscars live is quite a trial when you live in Europe, because it means that you have to stay up all night long. I had done it two years ago, as I was really invested in some of the movies nominated and wanted to do so again this year, which is why I took my Monday off, so I’d be able to sleep afterwards (I know, priorities). I watched the ceremony with my boyfriend and it was amazing, I was able to hear Adam Driver’s name among the nominees and to see him there, as well as see Olivia Colman getting the recognition she deserves for The Favourite! I wasn’t happy with all the results, but I had a great time watching, which is what matters in the end!

DRINK // Chai Lattes

In February, I tasted chai latte for the first time and I’m now obsessed with it! My friend Aseel kept talking about it on her Instagram and I was curious, so I gave in… I find this drink so calming and comforting, it is now my to-go drink when I’m not feeling too well and that I shouldn’t drink anymore coffee than I already have.

MOVIE // Captain Marvel (2019)

I was so excited for Captain Marvel, because finally, a Marvel superheroine was getting her own solo movie (it only took them… 21 movies…)! I didn’t know Carol Danvers’ storyline very well, as I had only encountered her in Ms. Marvel (with Kamala Khan!) and Guardians of the Galaxy, but I adore her so much! I was so happy that it was set in the 90s, as I’m currently quite obsessed with this era and it was such an amazing movie, truly! There was a cafe with temporary activities for Captain Marvel in Paris, where I went with my best friend when she came to visit me in Paris and we played 90s video games, which was a lot of fun. I cannot wait to read more about Carol Danvers and to see more of her in the MCU now!

FOOD // Granola

I tried granola for the first time while out brunching a few weeks ago and I adored it! I was always a bit skeptical when I saw people eating that (to be fair, I think I was mixing it up with muesli and I don’t like that?), but I was sold after eating a bit of it. Since then, I’ve been eating granola for breakfast every time I stayed at my boyfriend’s and I adore it. I can go through the whole morning without being too hungry, which is a huge improvement to me. I’d love to try to make some myself at some point, we shall see how that experiment goes.

April is going to be such a busy and challenging month, but I’m quite looking forward to it. It’ll be my last full month working at my internship – which makes me really sad, but well, that’s life -, but I’m also planning on doing Camp NaNoWriMo to write as much as possible of my master’s thesis, as well as to participate into the Magical Readathon 2019: O.W.L.s! I’m also really looking forward to watching Shazam and Avengers: Endgame on the big screen so yup, that’s my upcoming month!

What about you all, how are you? What is your favourite book of 2019 so far?

Halloween is less than a week away and I couldn’t be more excited! It also means that I only have one day left before my week of holidays and I really need it. We don’t celebrate Halloween that much in France, but I love it anyway and reading/watching/listening to content that remind me of this spooky and dark atmosphere during the month of October is always so much fun. Because of that, I thought that today, I would share with you some of my Halloween recommendations! Last year, I already recommended historical fantasy novels that are perfect for Halloween, so I won’t mention them again in this post, it would get quite repetitive, so feel free to (re)read it. Anyhow, time for Halloween recommendations!

For great Halloween reads, I recommend…

♡ The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell – This Gothic novel is set during the Victorian era, in a crumbling country mansion, where a young widow is sent to see out her pregnancy. While her new servants as resentful and the villagers hostile, Elsie thinks she only has her husband’s cousin for company… Or so she thinks, for behind a locked door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a creepy wooded figure that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. Its chilling atmosphere and the constant doubts of the characters makes it a gripping read that’s perfect for the season!

♡ Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – What a shocker, I am trying to make you all read Daphne du Maurier again… Well, she’s my favourite author, so it’s not *entirely* my fault. Rebecca is the fascinating story of a timid girl working as a paid companion to an old lady, until she falls in love and marries the widowed Maxim de Winter. After that, she moves to his Cornish country estate, Manderley, where the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, seems to haunt the whole place. This novel is absolutely brilliant, with an intoxicating atmosphere and you’ll want to keep reading, until you know the whole truth. By the way, if you’ve already read Rebecca, you can always give My Cousin Rachel a try, it’s perfect for the season as well and I adored the 2017 movie adaptation with Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin!

♡ If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio – This mystery novel, which has been compared (with reason!) to The Secret History, follows Oliver, who has just been released from jail after ten years, and is finally ready to tell the truth about the events that led to his incarceration. Ten years ago, Oliver was one of the young Shakespearean actors at a conversatory, where roles were played on and off stage, but in their last year, the balance of power shifted, which led to violence on opening night, until the students have to face their own tragedy. Those characters are all so morally grey and reading about their passionate relationships, with a thin limit between hate and love, as well as their fascination for Shakespeare, was amazing and it’s perfect for Fall in my opinion!

♡ We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – The Haunting of Hill House has been all the rage lately (I can’t wait to read it for Halloween), because of the Netflix adaptation that was recently released, but Shirley Jackson’s works are full of perfect Halloween reads, from what I’ve gathered. I have already read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which follows Merricat Blackwood, who lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian. There used to be seven Blackwoods… until they all died from a fatal dose of arsenic. This one is set in a small town, has a Gothic murder mystery and you never know who to trust, which is all you need!

♡ Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell – Of course, I couldn’t write this recommendation post without including some Victorian literature. I read this collection of several short stories during last year’s Victober and it was perfect to get me in a Halloween mood. These chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect: you will find a story inspired by the Salem witch hunts, another with an evil doppelganger, or one
with amysterious child roaming the freezing Northumberland moors, to name a few. Those were my first Victorian spooky short stories, my personal favourites being The Poor Clare, Lois the Witch, The Old Nurse’s Story and The Grey Woman. This is also your reminder to read Elizabeth Gaskell, she’s a wonderful author!♡Crooked House by Agatha Christie – I’ve spent 2018 reading one of Agatha Christie’s novels per month, so I’m starting to know her works quite well; my favourite I’ve read this year was Crooked House and what is better than a crime novel, surrounding a family in a big mansion, to spend Halloween with? It follows the Leonides family, that were a seemingly happy family, until the head of the household was murdered. I adore reading about imperfect families in crime novels, where everyone is suspect, when the limit between hate and love can be very thin, and Crooked House was perfect for that!

I also recommend you to watch and listen to…

♡ Stranger Things (Netflix, 2016) – I don’t think I really need to introduce Stranger Things to anyone now, don’t I? This TV show, sets in 1983 Hawkins, Indiana, and is the story of a young boy who vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl. Even if almost everyone has watched Stranger Things, I think that Halloween would be a perfect time for a rewatch for all of us, while we’re still waiting for season 3 to be released… *sigh*

♡ Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) – I have to admit that I’ve always been easily scared, so I don’t watch a lot of spooky movies (even though I’m trying to change that) and I’m not really the best at recommending them. However, I rewatch the animated movie Corpse Bride every year, because it’s a huge part of my childhood. In a fictional Victorian town, Victor and Victoria, who haven’t even met yet, are set to be married, until Victor ends up putting a ring on a forest root while practicing his vows… Which happens to be the finger of a murdered woman. He then goes to the Land of the Dead, meeting Emily, said woman in a bridal gown who claims to be his wife. Ensues all kinds of mayhem, while Victor tries to go back to the surface, but also to do the right thing. I adore the songs of this movie so much and it’s so aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Halloween really is the best time to rewatch Tim Burton’s animated movies in general, tbh. *starts singing This is Halloween*

♡ Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera (1986) – I might have developed a *slight* obsession for the musical version of The Phantom of the Opera earlier this year (the book isn’t that great, if you were considering reading it, though) and it’s definitely a perfect Halloween musical! I mean, a mysterious phantom running around an opera in Paris? Yes, please. Can you believe that it’s been created in 1986 and it’s still running? That’s how great it is! So please go listen to it, it’s so dramatic and spooky at times! The Music of the Night is my favourite song of it all and it’s giving me major Kylo Ren vibes.I so want to watch the musical live in London at some point, it must be so spectacular.

Oh, how I cannot wait for Halloween to come around. I have *finally* figured out my potential Halloween costume and I’m planning to have a little celebration with my best friend. We’ll try to make Halloween-themed food and drinks like last year, and we’ll watch Crimson Peak, hopefully we won’t be too scared, haha.

A few days ago, Romie @ Romie We Deserve Love did the Mamma Mia! Book Tag and not only did I scream, because that’s all I wanted and it gives me a reason to talk about how much I love Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and to write a post with gifs of Lily James, but also because I didn’t know it existed (okay, it was only created recently, but still)?! Thank you, Romie, for bringing it to my attention, you’re amazing! So of course, I’m doing this tag today, because how could I not? This tag was created by Ashley @ Ashley Outpaged and you can find the original video here.Like so many people, I adore Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I was so excited about the sequel coming out, even more when they announced that Lily James would play young Donna, because I’ve loved her since Downton Abbey and will watch anything she’s in. She’s such an amazing actress and I’m so glad she’s finally getting more recognition! I’ve been so obsessed with the movie and have been listening to the soundtrack all the time for the past month. I can’t wait until the DVD release, so I can rewatch it again and again.

But anyway, time for the tag!

Side note: I couldn’t find gifs for all the songs, but I did my best haha. Also, as I put gifs, minor spoilers for the movie I guess?

When I Kissed the Teacher | Name a book with a shocking plot twist

I’m usually quite good at figuring out plot twists, but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid had a shocking plot twist for me! It kinda made it easier for me to predict the twists of that type of books now though, but I’m not mad, as it was splendidly done in that one. But maybe the most shocking plot twist was that I knew I wanted to reread it a hundred pages into it? How did you do that, Taylor Jenkins Reid? Um… I was also trying to find a way to mention it, as it’s one of my favourite books and Evelyn would totally have kissed the teacher too, so… you know…

Waterloo | Name a book you’re positive you’ll be in love with

Am I supposed to think of the books in my TBR? That I have added on Goodreads? Well, we’ll just take into consideration my enormous TBR, which is made of… two books (at long last, I won’t have a TBR by next Monday and I’ll be able to conduct a very interesting I-don’t-have-a-TBR experiment, but I digress). Anyway, I’m quite positive I’ll love Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, I’ve been so excited about this one and it’s actually set during the Napoleonic Wars, so I find even funnier that it’s my answer for the Waterloo question. Now, I better love it, or it’ll be awkward.

Why Did It Have To Be Me | Name a book you went to to get over a reading slump

I don’t have reading slumps really often and the last really bad one happened in 2015. The book that got me out of it was Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, I read it in one or two sittings. Since then, it has ignited a love for everything Becky Albertalli writes and I adore the movie, so it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

I Have a Dream | Name a book character that inspires you

It’s not going to be very original, as I already mentioned this character in the Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag, but she means so much to me. Juliet Ashton from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society inspires me all the time, through her personality, through her writing, through her whole story. I also picture her as Lily James because of the movie, so it’s true it fed my love for her even more. If I had to pick another character, so my answers would be
a bit more original, Frances Janvier from Radio Silence also really inspires me to work hard, pursue what I love and put myself out there, even when it means going out of the path most people take.

Andante, Andante | Name your current read

I’m currently reading two books. First, I’m reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, which I’m planning to finish today (I have a hundred pages left, so), as there is a 24h readathon happening tomorrow. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by it, as I haven’t been screaming at the historical inaccuracies that much, it’s quite easy to read once the plot has really started and it’s so entertaining. I’m also slowly making my way throughHans Andersen’s Fairy Tales: a Selection, I’ve been reading tales here and there. Can you tell that we’re in August and I’m participating in the #classicsathon?

Knowing Me, Knowing You | Name a book you had to break up with and DNF

I recently DNF-ed The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy, which made me a bit sad because I so wanted to read it, but I didn’t click with her writing at all and as it was about her life (which was so heartbreaking), I didn’t want to force myself to read it. I started it during my 31 books in 31 days challenge, I didn’t want to drag it behind me all month, and it was a wise decision. Sorry, little book.

Mamma Mia | Name a book you recently read again

I reread The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows at the beginning of the month (what a surprise) and fell in love with it even more than the first time around. It’s definitely one of my favourite books of all time and such a gem, I already want to reread it, which might be a problem, as I just did. I almost wish I could keep this treasure to myself at times, even though many people fell in love with it before I did, haha, I’m a bit possessive when it comes to it. *hides* Also, Juliet Ashton is probably my favourite book character ever, but I already said that.

Dancing Queen | Name a book that made you want to dance around the room

I had trouble finding an answer to this question, until I got through my Goodreads shelves, saw Autoboyography by Christina Lauren and realised it was the perfect answer. It is quite a hyped novel, but I totally agree with it and this book made me so happy (and broke my heart several times, but oh well). Not only was the bi rep absolutely amazing, but I related to Daniel so much, which was quite unexpected. I adored the way the romance was written, but also seeing present and supportive parents, it made my heart full. I need more contemporary novels like this one. Tanner and Daniel, I miss you.

Super Trouper | Name a series you haven’t finished due to its intimidating size

I still need to finish some trilogies, but that’s not because of their size, so I’m not quite sure it counts. However, I still haven’t started the A Song of I
ce and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, nor Robin Hobb’s huge Realms of the Elderlings series (there are three trilogies and two spin-offs series or something? WHAT?) due to their intimidating size. I am finally finding motivation to read fantasy again, though, after such lack of that this year (for me, that is). The book coming out this Fall about the Targaryens makes me want to pick up the A Song of Ice and Fire series really soon and it’s on my reading bucket list of 2018, so it’s time. I think I also got the final push from my boyfriend to read Robin Hobb’s books, he just read the first one and adored it (he literally said he loved it more than Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone? He only read the series last year, but still?), and my parents have been obsessed with it for years. Time to stop putting those series off.

Writing this post has been so much fun, as I had no choice, but to listen to the soundtrack yet again to type my answers! I’m not tagging anyone in particular, but if you’re obssessed with the movie like I am and want to do this tag, bam, you’ve been tagged!That’s it for me today y’all, now I’ll go back to singing along to the soundtrack!

Last May, I binge-watched the first season of The Bold Type and completely fell in love with it, to the point that I said on social media that it was my favourite TV show of 2018 (so far). Unsurprisingly, I was beyond excited to watch the second season, which finished airing in the U.S. recently. I really wanted to share some of my excitement about it with you today, so I could, maybe, convince you to give it a shot.

What is The Bold Type about?

This TV show follows three best friends, Jane, Kat, and Sutton, who work for Scarlet, a global women’s magazine. The show explores their lives in New York City, as they learn to find their own voices and explore their sexuality, identity, love, and fashion.

MY THOUGHTS

Through every single episode, The Bold Type has been such an empowering show for me, mainly because it focuses on women, whether it was the three main characters, their boss (yay to women of power), the friends they make along the way or the readers of Scarlet. When I started watching it, it felt like the one, the show that was made for me, that would motivate me to fight to follow my dreams and that would be there for me when I didn’t believe in myself anymore and we all need that in our lives.The Bold Type is a feminist, diverse and topical show, tackling down so many contemporary issues and doing it in such a clever way. Some people might think, from the premise, that it’s gonna be a very cliché show, all about fashion, women hating on each other and romances worth of eye rolls. It definitely isn’t. The showrunners actually use the fact that it is set in a global women’s magazine to talk about what women (all of them) have to go through in their every day lives, through the articles everyone are working on, or by following different storylines in Jane, Kat and Sutton’s lives. I had already made a quick list of topics talked about in the first season, but to give you some examples, the second season talked about white privilege, body positivity, sex between women, religion, unemployment, slut-shaming, the #MeToo movement, picking your career over your love life and so on. I could give you a dozen more of examples, but I didn’t write this post so it could be a list. I truly adore this show, because I feel represented in it, because of the representation in part*, but also because it talks about topics that matter to me, that I have to deal with, and that I wish we could see more of.*Will I ever stop crying when I see a bisexual woman in a TV show/movie? The answer is absolutely not.

Sutton (Meghan Fahy), Jane (Katie Stevens) and Kat (Aisha Dee)

The three main characters mean so much to me, because not only the portraying of their friendship is one of the healthiest I have seen on TV, but I see myself in all of them, and they all are my role models in a way. They still are at the beginning of their professional lives – they’ve worked for four years or something? – and it’s so encouraging for me, as I’m almost done with my studies. If you asked me who out of the three was my favourite, I wouldn’t be able to answer, because it changes with every episode and I love them in different ways.

> Jane can be my favourite, because she’s a journalist and seeing her finding her voice through her writing is so inspiring. She’s also the type of person who needs to keep her entire life planned out and organized to stay sane, I so feel her on that. At the beginning of the first season, she was so scared to dare and to put herself out there, seeing her pushing herself to become a better person and a better writer has been amazing and motivating.

> Kat can be my favourite, because she’s so outspoken and confident, I so want to be more like her. She also works in social media and I adore seeing her working. More than that, seeing her exploring her sexuality hit so close to home. When I started watching the show, I was going through similar events and feelings than she was in the first season, so seeing her embracing it all made me so happy and even prouder of who I am.

> Sutton can be my favourite, because she reminds me to follow my dreams and that being yourself is important. I love her because I know what it feels like to be late to find your way in life, to keep going without really knowing where to. She always makes me remember that it’s never too late and that what we truly want is worth fighting for. I’d also give her a special shoutout for the time she said she was all game for a healthy competition against another female character at work, but not for slut-shaming.

I love one (1) superior ship

Another thing I adore in the first season of this show is that, while there are three romantic ships, each for one of the main characters, the only one you will truly remember is Kat and Adena. S
eeing representation of a romantic relationship between two women is so rare on television, but you have it on The Bold Type. Not only that, but this dynamic is the main focus when it comes to romance for the first season (Pinstripe and Richard who?), they’re absolutely adorable and we’re also talking about a romance between two women of colour! This is a TV show that gives you representation and not two minutes just to say that they did it. I’m quite upset with what they did in the second half of season 2, though, I get that they wanted more screen time for the other romantic (straight) ships, but please tell me they’ll go on the right path on that topic for season 3. The Bold Type is definitely one of my favourite TV shows and I cannot wait for the third season to air next year. I’m not sure how much of a good idea it was to write about it, considering that now, I want to rewatch it even more, but I hope that I managed to convince you to watch it, if you haven’t!

Yesterday, I finished a period drama that I have been loving for the past year, Mr Selfridge. I’ve come to realise that I really wanted to talk more about period dramas or TV shows in general on here and I’ve said that several times, but I haven’t done so that much. So, I decided to start to fix that, which is why I wanted to talk about this show specifically today!

To be completely honest, I started Mr Selfridge because it was set more or less in the same time period that Downton Abbey, which is my favourite period drama. I did put it on the back burner for a little why because I was actually rewatching Downton Abbey last summer, but the more I watched it, the more I adored it.

WHAT IS MR SELFRIDGE ABOUT?

Mr Selfridge is a TV show made of four seasons (each of ten episodes) that tells the story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of the Selfridges department store, starting in 1908, when the store was open. Each season follows a different time period and the fourth and final one finishes twenty years later. It follows Harry Selfridge’s story, as well as his family and his employees.

To get a better idea of what to expect, here’s the trailer of the first season:

MY THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

As I’ve said, one of the reasons I started this TV show was because it was set more or less in the same time period than Downton Abbey, as it runs from 1908 to 1928. Not only that, but as the show followed the insides of a store, it follows the Selfridges, the family of the infamous owner, as well as the employees, which is a little reminiscent of the upstairs/downstairs dynamics in Downton Abbey. Throughout the whole show, I’ve loved learning about the store, how revolutionary it was at times, about the way it was handled, the employees treated, about the different departments and how they grew. Of course, I imagine that a lot of it is fictional, but I found that a show set around a specific place, a store that was in the middle of London, was really interesting.

The Selfridge family in season 3

One of the perks of having a TV show set on twenty years was the possibility to make its characters grow, to introduce new characters and to give importance to characters that were younger at the beginning of the show. Even if a character I loved was leaving the show, I would always end up adoring another one that didn’t use to be there/that I didn’t use to love, which always kept me invested in the different storylines. For example, the Selfridge children used to be mentioned here and there, because they were quite young, but they became such a huge part of the show, especially in seasons three and four. They were some of my favourite characters, because they were the new generation and brought some perspective their father didn’t necessarily have, they also were so different from one another, yet I loved them all.

Agnes, Kitty and Dorice, who worked in the fashion department, in season 1

Seeing the development of characters that were there for the course of the four seasons was so interesting and it made me look up to them, because I could see how much they had achieved in twenty years and how much their career meant to them, the best example of that being Kitty, whom I didn’t like very much at first. As the show has such a big cast of characters, it also helps you to be invested in some storylines more than others, especially if there are characters that you don’t like that much, as you’ll always have the others (let’s face it, Harry was quite irritating and that’s part of his character, but still).

Moreover, I found that this period drama tackled down so many important subjects, whether it was self-made fortunes, drinking, racism, sexual assault, PTSD and many others. I particularly loved the way it portrayed women, talking about how married women, then mothers were supposed to leave their jobs at the time, but also showing women putting their careers first, not letting anyone bullying them into being wives and mothers, as well as women who did both. I thought it did a great job at showing all the possibilities, never saying that one possibility was better than another.

An example of costumes in Mr Selfridge. Also look!!

Daisy Ridley guest starred in that episode and I screamed when I saw her, I had no idea.

This period drama was also so visually pleasing to watch. As it was set in Selfridges, it focused a lot on exhibiting the products of the store in the best way, for fashion or grand-themed displays. The costumes were absolutely stunning, whether it was those from the beginning of the century or those from the Roaring Twenties, that’s something I always love about period dramas. Seeing the window displays was always such a delight as well, because Harry Selfridge always wanted to do spectacular things, so his customers would remember that, he was quite the showman and the show showed that in the best way. It also guest-starred several historical figures and it was so much fun to see them from time to time, take for example Elizabeth Arden, Anna Pavlova or even A.A. Milne.Overall, I would definitely recommend you this period drama, whether you have seen many of them or not, it’s so easy to get invested in the different storylines and to pick it back up after not watching it for a while, as there are time jumps for each season. My favourite season was the third one for sure, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for the Roaring Twenties and I loved Violette Selfridge so much, but I loved every single episode of it! I’m in such a mood for period dramas right now, so I’ll make sure to watch more before the summer ends.

Yesterday, I started watching Everything Sucks! on Netflix, which is made of ten episodes of about twenty-five minutes. Little did I know I would end up staying up late to binge-watch the whole season, yet, I couldn’t stop myself. In the middle of binge-watching it, I learnt that Netflix had announced the show’s cancellation last week, when it hadn’t even been on their website for two months (I don’t get why they did that after two months when they wait forever to renew their shows??). After finishing the first and apparently unique season we’ll ever get, I just didn’t understand, especially since it was a show so full of hope. Why does Netflix keep cancelling (most of) their diverse shows? *cries forever* Let’s hope the social media campain #RenewEverythingSucks will work…

WHAT IS EVERYTHING SUCKS! ABOUT?

It’s 1996 in a town called Boring in Oregon (yes, it’s a real town), where high school misfits in the AV and drama clubs brave the ups and downs of teenage life in the VHS era. The show mainly follows Luke O’Neil (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), an aspiring filmmaker and Kate Messner (Peyton Kennedy), the principal’s daughter figuring out her sexuality, who both come from single-parents households, trying to discover out who they are.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

I knew I would end up loving Everything Sucks from the very first minute, when it started talking about the Star Wars prequel movies and how the characters were pretty sure they wouldn’t be good. I was born in 1996, so I thought it was a funny reason to watch it: it felt so nostalgic of that time. It was full of pop culture references (from movies to items such as Tamagotchis!) and had an amazing soundtrack (not to be cliché, but Oasis? HELL, YES). It does use ’90s clichés, but that’s all the fun. Once I finished it, I just wanted to get to the nearest store to dress like the characters (but it might be because I adore Emaline).

It’s not the type of show that will necessarily enthral you right in, it took me a couple of episodes for that to actually happen, which is also linked to the fact that there was bullying and homophobic slur (which was the point) at first, it made it a bit hard to watch. Like I’ve read in some reviews that I agree with on that, the show is a bit all over the place, like teenagers are, so that felt realistic, but because of that, it took me a bit of time.

THEN

I

FELL

FOR

IT.

Everything Sucks! is a coming-of-age story that felt so authentic: it reminds you how awful high school sometimes was when you weren’t popular or things like that, it navigates relationships, heatbreaks, unrequited love, figuring out your sexuality, trying to find your voice and what you love in life. Yes, everything does suck, but that’s reality. Yet, it’s also so full of hope. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, it’s relatable. More than that, it has amazing representation and that’s why it’s even more heartbreaking that it got cancelled.

(Sorry for the shade thrown on 13 Reasons Why with this tweet, even though I 100% agree with it)

I adored so many of the storylines, and as all the characters came together in the second half of the season, it became better and better. While some of the secondary characters felt two-dimensional in the first half of the season, they all had their own stories in the second half and I came to care for them all. Most of the characters started off a bit two-dimensional because of the ’90s clichés, but then the show went way farther than any ’90s TV shows would have gotten away with and that’s why it’s amazing. It also followed some of the characters’ parents and while they didn’t have a lot of screen time, I came to root for them as much as for the kids.

My favourite story arc was without a doubt Kate’s, who was coming to terms with the fact that she was a lesbian and I can’t say anything without spoiling, but the way they did it felt realistic, especially for the 1990s (the concert scene was amazing, I’m still crying). She’s the type of character that everyone can relate to, that’s supposed to be YOU and it worked. She’s such a teen icon and we need more characters like her on television. The award for best character development goes to Emaline, my personal favourite, she goes from being this arrogant theatre teen to a kinder and more romantic young woman, figuring out how to be her own person, because she needs no man (spoiler alert: the type of character I love the most).

I really love Emaline. UGH I miss her so much already.

Overall,Everything Sucks! isn’t a perfect TV show, but it deserves so much more publicity than it got for the past two months. It’s nostalgic, authentic and has great representation. I truly couldn’t stop watching it, because I was holding on to hope that it would go the way I wanted, it more than did, and if Netflix truly doesn’t pick it back up again, I’ll never get over it (the only show I feel like that about is Agent Carter and I’m still bitter after two years), because I need more, I want to see my favourite characters grow together. Please, Netflix.

Last Friday, I finally went to see The Greatest Showman– it only came out on Wednesday in France – because I was curious: I had first been very excited to see the movie, then heard about problematic elements, but as I have an unlimited movie card, I decided to go and make my own opinion about this movie and oh my, did I have a lot of thoughts in my head when I left the theatre. I’ve been debating whether or not I should write a blog post about it, because it came out more than a month ago in the rest of the world and most people have already seen it, but well, that’s what blogging is for: sharing your opinions, the good, the bad, and to write about what you want. Let’s just address the elephant in the room right away: I have a very mixed opinion about this movie.

What is The Greatest Showman about?

Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business & tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. [Synopsis taken from the video below]

What I liked

I’m going to ramble a lot during the second half of this blog post, but I have to confess that there were elements I liked in The Greatest Showman. I totally understand why so many people are obsessed with it, so let’s start with the positive.

The songs are absolutely amazing– I’ve been listening to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman ever since it was released at the beginning of December and I’ve loved the songs from the first times I’ve listened to them. They were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who also worked on the songs of Dear Evan Hansen (one of my favourite musicals) and wrote the lyrics for the songs from La La Land (and we all know that it’s one of my favourite movies). I think that the songs and most importantly, the musical numbers, are the best part of the movie and if it could have been made exclusively of them, I would have taken that. From the moment A Million Dreams started (and that’s the second song), I cried during every musical number, because the songs are THAT good. (Also, I really love Rewrite the Stars and I’ll be crying about it for a long time)

The movie is so aesthetically pleasing– The musical numbers, the costumes, the production design, the cinematography… My eyes really loved watching this movie. Despite the problems I had with it, I have to confess that it was absolutely stunning and I didn’t know where to look, because I wanted to look everywhere. Like I already said, I loved the musical numbers, but they did such a fantastic job. Wow.

The casting was on point– Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and so many other amazing actors were in The Greatest Showman and they did a fantastic job (I only mentioned fivenames because those are the actors I already knew prior to this movie). It’s quite funny, because as I adore Hugh Jackman and would want to trust him, I was always torn between my hate for Barnum’s character and the fact that he tried to make him more relatable, which almost made me want to like him.

*Daisy Ridley’s voice* I feel the conflict in you. It’s tearing you apart.

The messages they tried to get through – This movie celebrates diversity, embracing who you are despite what society would want you to be. Those are great messages and This Is Me was quite an empowering song in that sense. I would have loved for them to go even farther into this, but sadly, there wasn’t enough time in the movie for that.

Philip Carlyle and Anne Wheeler – It’s interesting, when you do some research on this movie, to discover that these two didn’t exist and yet, they had one of the best storylines. It is already established that I hated Barnum for many reasons that I will explain after, but Philip had such an amazing character development. He was a privileged, white able-bodied man who had everything and decided to invest in Barnum’s show. He truly found who he really was during the movie and he was so much more of a redeemable character than Barnum could have been. If we have to see the movie from the point of view of a privileged white man, I would rather have it from Philip’s than Barnum’s.

He also had a romance with Anne, a trapezist from the show, and they used quite a few of my favourite romance tropes for them, so I was 100% there for it (highlight if you want to see the small /spoiler/ they touched hands and I almost fell off my chair). I have a little reservation though: they showed that their romance was frowned upon, but it felt more like they were saying it was because Anne performed in the circus, when it also was because she was bla
ck when Philip was white. They never said that clearly and I think that some of the audience might have missed the point with that (but I might be wrong). I wish that aspect of their storyline had been explored further, but other than that, I really loved them and Rewrite the Stars is perfect.

What I didn’t like

Before I start ranting about what I didn’t like: we’re all different and that’s just my opinion. I’m not saying that everything I write is the truth and no one should question it, I’m just talking about what I felt watching the movie and when I did a little bit of research on Barnum. Many people loved this movie and I’m so happy for them, really. If I sound a bit harsh, it’s because I really dislike Barnum and all my hate is directed towards him.

The movie was too short for the plot to go in-depth – The thing is, this movie is 105-minute long. I should have been happy about that, because it meant I wouldn’t be bored, but in The Greatest Showman‘s case, I believed that it would have been way better for it to be longer. I needed more backstory on the characters to understand them more and it was filled with plot holes. Everything was rushed, because there were the musical numbers to consider and they’d be three to five minutes long (which I didn’t mind, considering they were my favourite part of the movie), but because of that, the plot was put to the side, in my opinion. It was all over the place and they couldn’t go in-depth.

I would have loved to see Charles or Lettie’s points of view more. I would have loved for them to go in-depth about the racial issues when it came to Philip and Anne’s romance. We didn’t know Anne or W.D.’s stories and it bothered me, because Anne was such an important character in the movie.They tried to do so much with this movie, which is a good thing, because the idea behind it was great, but they couldn’t talk about everything and we stayed on the surface for most topics.I just needed more.

Once again, it’s just the story of a white able-bodied male saviour, when this movie was supposed to be about people who were different.– I am sorry, but this movie is just about Barnum creating the show, messing everything up, to be forgiven everything at the end of the day, because he gave them a family*. It’s the story of a man who thinks he’s different, when he truly wasn’t and just uses people who are different to get as much money as he can. The movie is told through his eyes, tries to present him as a man who helped people finding their places in the world and embracing who they really were, and that’s about it. I don’t care about him, I care about the secondary characters and they were the ones I wanted to hear the most.

If you want to make a movie about people who are different, why do you have to make it through the perspective of the white able-bodied man? WHY? Granted, This is me was an empowering song and I adore it, but even then… It’s just in reaction to Barnum’s behaviour. it truly made me sad, I so wish this movie had included more of the characters’ points of views and hadn’t been so much about Barnum ‘saving’ them, when he didn’t do such a thing. While we’re at it, I’d also like to point out that of course (I’m being sarcastic, I’m sadly not surprised by this), except for Sam Humphrey who portrays Charles Stratton (known on the stage as General Tom Thumb), none of the actors have the conditions of their characters.

*Now, I realise that they weren’t accepted by society, that their families hid them away and that for the first time in their lives, they felt like they belonged and I’m very happy about that aspect of the movie. But it’s not because someone helps you at a moment in your life when you have nothing (especially to exploit you) that they should be forgiven everything.

The portrayal of P.T. Barnum – Okay, I know what you’re about to say: ‘but this movie wasn’t historically accurate! They just used his name because he invented the circus!’ The thing is, that’s what I thought, at first. However, they used one of his quotes at the very end of the movie, right before the credits, so yes, it was about the real Barnum anyway. They also used quite a few details from his life (except that he didn’t come from nothing, they just wanted us to have empathy for him), so I’m sorry, but they didn’t just use his name: they romanticized P.T. Barnum’s life to make him sound much nicer than he actually was*.

Barnum bought some of the people he put in the stage, some of the performers were given by their parents at nine months old or four years old. Barnum mistreated animals, made people pay to see an autopsy on a slave he claimed to have been the George Washington’s slave (she was supposedly 161 years old), he was a conman and not the nice man the movie made him to be. I wasn’t completely sure I would ever end up posting this, until I had an argument with someone at uni who said: “but I don’t mind if they were enslaved/exploited, at least they got to perform” and I was completely shocked. True, the performers didn’t have a lot of options in their lives, but they weren’t treated well anyway and you can’t just igno
re that they didn’t completely come from their own free will.

In the movie, you see some moments where Barnum was ashamed of them and how he just wanted to use them to gain as much money as he could and didn’t actually care about them. In my opinion, the movie manipulates us into liking Barnum, because Hugh Jackman seems like such a nice guy and you want to trust him. I understand that The Greatest Showmanis a musical, we want characters to be nice, to be redeemed, but I feel like I’ve been manipulated and I do not like that at all. I rewatched the trailer while I was writing this post and the way Barnum is presented is so misleading, it got on my nerves even more.

*I am very aware that The Greatest Showman is fiction, but if it’s to romanticise the life of an awful man and make people like him, I can’t be there for it.

Overall, I don’t think that The Greatest Showman was a bad movie per se, it had quite a few good elements and I genuinely understand why people adore it so much. However, I had so many issues with it that in the end, the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am. I think that I suffered from my usual history major curse and I was so sick to see the same overused tropes when this movie was supposed to be different. I’ll still listen to the songs, though, because I want to support the songwriters who worked on them and they were the best aspect of the movie. If you’re curious, I got most of my informations from all the links I put right below and once again, I wrote this to share my opinion on The Greatest Showman, we all think in different ways, we can’t always agree and that’s great!

As the end of the year is coming to a close, it is time for many of us to write a lot of blog posts about all of our favourite things of the year. I am personally planning on making a list of my favourite books, TV shows and movies of 2017. Why am I starting with TV shows two weeks before the end of the year? you will ask. Well, I’ve already watched a lot of TV shows this year and while I’ll probably catch up on some shows for the two remaining weeks of the year (read: Brooklyn 99 and Doctor Who), I really need to focus on watching all the movies I still haven’t watched. Which is why you’re getting this one quite early!

10. Harlots (2017)

This period drama is set in 1763 London, where one in five women makes a living by selling sex. This show follows Margaret Wells, a brothel owner, as well as her two daughters, Charlotte and Lucy, all of them trying to get better lives for themselves. Margaret Wells decides to move her brothel in a new street to thrive, which makes her in conflict with Lydia Quigley, the owner of a high class brothel.

Now, from this summary, you might be unsure about this show. I know I was. Yes, there are sex scenes, but it is to be expected. However, it is an amazing and very addictive period drama that slays everything, even one of my favourite authors says so:

It might be shocking to most people that I started watching Friendsin December 2016, but well… I did. It’s the whole reason I got a Netflix subscription in the first place, because I really wanted to know what the hype was all about and to understand all of the references. To say the least, I wasn’t disappointed. I watched it in ten months, because I needed it to last. It was the show I turned to when I needed to feel better or to laugh, and it never failed me. Friendstruly deserve all the hype, the entire world was right about it.My favourite character was Chandler for sure, but I have a little bit of each character’s personality within me, like everyone. I already know that when I feel down, I will rewatch it, because it truly helped me to go through 2017.

8. The Crown (2016)

The second season of The Crown was released last week on Netflix and yes, I already binge-watched it. The Crown already was one my favourite TV shows of last year and this second season did not disappoint. I loved that we got to focus a bit more on Elizabeth’s family, with entire arcs on Margaret, Philip, the duke of Windsor or even Charles. Once again, it was very informative, while never being boring. The cinematography was stunning and once again, the actors did an amazing job. I really hope it’ll get six seasons like they planned, and while I’m a bit sad to say goodbye to Claire Foy and Matt Smith as Elizabeth and Philip – they have planned to replace the actors every two seasons, so they actually have the same age that the characters they portray – I cannot wait to see how season 3 will be.

7. Poldark (2015)

Poldark is based on Winston Graham’s novels and follows the story of Ross Poldark, a man who returns from the American War of Independence to Cornwall to discover that his father is dead, his estate in ruins and the woman he loves is engaged to his cousin. He decides to take control over his own mines again while helping the people of the village. I absolutely love Poldark because it is set in the 18th century in Cornwall, which means the scenery is absolutely gorgeous and I listen to the soundtrack all the time. I have to confess that while I loved the first season, I disliked the second one so much (Ross was the worst and it felt repetitive), to the point that I didn’t want to continue. I decided to watch the third season for Dwight Enys because I adore him* and it was so worth it. The third season had new characters such as Morwenna and Drake and it was absolutely amazing once again. I spent most of it
suffering (because some awul things happened, but it was so good) and binge-watched it in three days, as I couldn’t stop. So yes, it’s back on my favourite shows list, and I have great expectations for season 4.

*What do you mean, it might be because I think that he looks like Matthew Crawley? I have no idea wha you’re talking about.

6. Victoria (2016)

When I watched the first season of Victoria last year, I completely fell in love with it and it became my favourite show of the year. I was a bit scared the second season wouldn’t live up to it, but it still was amazing! This show follows the reign of Queen Victoria, as well as some secondary storylines about people close to her and the servants of the palace (did they try to make it a little like Downton Abbey? I guess so). I’ll always have a weakness for Prince Albert (especially portrayed by Tom Hugues), because he truly was amazing and it is shown in every episode. Everything was absolutely stunning, we even got an episode set in Scotland! I’m still waiting on the Christmas special episode that will be released in a few days, but I already know it’ll be amazing.

5. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015)

Another show that completely took me by surprise. It follows Rebecca Bunch, a top-notch lawyer living in New York city, who panics when she’s offered a partnership. When she bumps into Josh Chan, her first love from summer camp, she decides to move to West Covina, California where he lives, in search for happiness and to become his girlfriend. This show is a comedy-drama series with amazing musical numbers and the more episodes I watch, the more I love it. Rachel Bloom, who created it and plays Rebecca, is an absolute genius and I have nothing but respect for her. This show is hilarious, sad, serious and unexpected. It is hands-down the best TV show on the CW right now, in my opinion.

4. Stranger Things (2016)

I’m pretty sure that Stranger Things needs no introduction, considering that every time a season is released, it’s all over the Internet – and with reason. The first season is set in Hawkins, Indiana, in 1983, where Will Byers, a 12 y.o. boy mysteriously disappears. His family and friends never give up on trying to find him, which might lead to strange discoveries… And it only gets strangers (#original). I absolutely love the retro vibes from this show and I think that the cast and their characters are fantastic! I binge-watched both seasons, because it’s quite an addictive and quality show, which made it into my favourite shows very quickly. It’s just perfect.

3. One Day at a Time (2017)

One Day at a Time is a Netflix sitcom loosely based on the 1975-1984 show of the same name. It only has one season so far, but a second one is coming and it couldn’t make me happier. Sadly, this show is very underrated but it is everything. It follows the Alvarez family, Penelope, a single mom who used to be in the army, her two children Elena and Alex, and her mother Lydia, a faithful Cuban. It’s absolutely hilarious as well as clever, feminist and diverse. It only has thirteen episodes and they last about thirty minutes, so you’ll probably end up binge-watching the whole thing. Please, watch it.

2. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

Another show I only watched in 2017… I know, I’m late to the party. * hides in a corner * My best friend made me watch the first few episodes at the end of September, but I accidentally got way too addicted and binge-watched the whole thing (revival included) in a little less than three months. I’ve loved a lot of shows, but Gilmore Girls now has a special place in my heart. Before watching it and meeting Rory Gilmore, I had never related to a show that much. There were so many similarities between my life and Rory’s that it sometimes hurt me… But also did me some good, I guess. If I hadn’t watched the show that’s number one in this list, Gilmore Girls would have been my favourite show of the year. It certainly is in my top 3 favourite shows of all times anyway. Also, can someone tell me we’ll someday get a second season to the revival? PLEASE.

1. Legion (2017)

Last but not least, my favourite show of 2017 is Legion. *shocked gasps from the audience* I already talked about it way too many times and even wrote an entire blog post about it, so you might want to read it if you haven’t yet. It’s better not to know much going into Legion, but it’s somehow a spin-off of X-Men. If you don’t understand what’s happening most of the time, it’s normal. To sum it up, this show is brilliant, has amazing actors, gorgeous cinematography, you will never know what to expect, and Dan Stevens is portraying the main character (you know how much I love Dan Stevens). Oh and it is seriously underrated, so… GO WATCH IT, OKAY? I’ll leave you with Leigh Bardugo’s tweet:

Holy hell. Just started Legion. So good. Why did no one tell me this was SO GOOD??

Me hugging Les Misérables, because hugging your favourite books is good for the soul.

Hello, beautiful people!

As you probably already know, I am completely obsessed with Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, as well as the musical and its movie adaptation. I had read the abridged version of the book when I was twelve and absolutely loved it, but this year, I decided it was time to read the unabridged version. I finally did so this month, and I fell in love with it all over again, except that it’s even more powerful than it used to be. Today, I just wanted to talk to you about my story with Les Misérables (it’s been thirteen years in the making. yup.) and to try to tell you why I love it so much.

What is Les Misérables about?

Les Misérables is a French novel published by Victor Hugo in 1862 and it’s really emblematic in French literature. It describes the lives of miserable people in 19th century France, both in Paris and the countryside, following more specifically Jean Valjean’s life, a former convict.

My story with Les Misérables

I remember hearing about Les Misérables for the first time when I was about seven or eight. A teacher in elementary school once said ‘Come on Cosette, go fetch us some water’ as a joke, before explaining where the reference came from. For some reason, it always stayed in my mind, until I was twelve and had to read the abridged version for a class. We were supposed to read it for January or February, but once my parents bought me the book in October, I devoured it, stayed up way past my bedtime to read it, and became completely obsessed. My schoolmates complained a lot about having to read it, and I went through it twice. I fell in love with Victor Hugo’s writing, the characters and the story. Now, as you probably already know, I’m French. What most of you don’t know is that I come from the north of the country. The first book of Les Misérables is set there, most of it in Montreuil-sur-Mer (my actual hometown is the place where the fake Jean Valjean’s trial takes place, it was fate). I’ve been to this town for as long as I can remember, walking along the battlements and the old castle. Every year, Montreuil-sur-Mer has a sound and light show, a sort of reenactment of Les Misérables, as part of the story is set there. I begged my parents to go the year I first read the book and they took one of my brothers and I. It was a very cold summer evening (it’s the north of France, after all), but while I was freezing, seeing the characters alive in front of my eyes amazed me and I have such a fond memory of it.That’s how I first became obsessed with Les Misérables.

As you can see, I definitely didn’t know about the musical… Until they decided to adapt it into a movie. I saw a lot of gifs on Tumblr and decided to start listening to the songs, which I completely fell in love with. I didn’t see the movie right away, because I’m not sure they showed it in my hometown or I had someone to watch it with me, and it was years until I finally did. I was already obsessed with Eddie Redmayne by then and you know… He’s playing Marius’ part in it (hence 60% of my love for Marius). Anyhow, I watched the movie and fell in love all over again (it was also a weird experience the first time, because I started watching it in a train with lots of noise…). I listened to the songs for months on end and I still listen to them at least once a week.

Then, back in September… I saw the musical live in West End, in London. It was one of the best moments of my entire life and I cried most of the time, because it was a dream come true. I can’t thank my boyfriend enough for buying us these tickets, I thought it would be way too expensive and didn’t dare to dream going for at least a few years. Now, I’m planning on going back again and again, I know I’ll never be tired of it.

Last but not least, this month, I read the unabridged version of the novel. While it’s 1662 pages long… I read it in three days. I still don’t know how. It is one of the best books I have ever read and it made it into my top 3 books of all times, without even needing to try. I’m already thinking about rereading it over and over again. After I finished it, I rewatched the movie again, have been listening to the songs on repeat again, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Why do I love Les Misérables so much?

Now, that is a complex question, because Les Misérables is a book, a musical, a movie, my entire life. I will never be able to do Victor Hugo’s words justice, nor the musical’s.

I love the book in all its complexity. I won’t lie, it’s not for everyone, because it has long descriptions, a lot of historical facts and it can seem boring sometimes (I guess?). Yet, I love history and being so engrossed in a book that I feel like I time-traveled in a different era. With Les Misérables, I time travel and for me, there aren’t too many words, it’s just fine. Hugo describes everything perfectly to give you a sense of what early 19th
century France was like, of why these characters act like this or why the plot is going that way. He’s always going back to give a backstory to his characters and because of that, they’re perfectly developed. You all know how obsessed I am with Marius Pontmercy, and I feel like I know everything I need to know about him. He could have been a real person, for all I know. Victor Hugo’s characters are perfectly fleshed-out, he shows you the good, all of the bad, he doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything. I got something out of every character in this novel. Les Misérables is about the hardships of life, how you can make the right choices and yet seem all wrong in society’s eyes, how you can still dare to hope and fight for your dreams, to be recognised and even if it didn’t work, at least you tried (that last part isn’t so happy but hey, it’s life). Les Misérables is the story of a society that is still relevant today, a heart-breaking tale, an adventure, a sum of knowledge, a romance, and so much more. For me, you can’t fit it in one genre (it’s considered to be a historical, social and philosophical novel), unless you consider ‘a literary masterpiece’ as one.

One of the other reasons I love Les Misérables so much can seem pretty random, but it’s relevant to my life. Like I told you, I come from the north of France, which always made the first part of the book important to me, because it was set home, in a way. For a long time, it was the part of the story I knew the most, I didn’t know that much about Marius, or Cosette when she was older. Recently, it struck me. I moved to Paris for my studies, to begin my adult life, four and a half years ago. The second part of the novel is set in Paris, Cosette is older, like I was, in a way; the friends of the ABC meet in the Latin Quarter, so close to where I live. It might be one of the cheesiest things I have ever written, but the geography of Les Misérables is the geography of my life, somehow. This story will always be even closer to my heart for personal reasons I can’t exactly explain, but it makes me love the book even more.

For me and many other people out there, Les Misérables also means the musical. I discovered it later, but it’s a masterpiece on its own as well. All the songs are absolutely amazing and now that I’ve read the entire book, I can tell you that all the lyrics have twelve times more meanings than you might think. Every little thing is a reference to a detail of the book. Every time I listen to the songs, I discover a new one. The songs of the musical are moving, unforgettable and even iconic today. The musical has run continuously in London since October 1985, it’s been thirty-two years and the theatre is still full whenever they play it. I first saw the musical as a movie and I love it with all my heart, but when I was about to see the musical on stage… I wondered how they would do it. Let me tell you that the staging is genius, the costumes, amazing, the actors, so talented. It’s perfect. It’s my favourite musical by far, and I’m a huge lover of musicals. I’m sure the musical will still run for a long time, and I know that I’ll go back to see it as many times as I can.

I can’t convey all of my thoughts into proper words, but I do love Les Misérables with my entire body, soul and heart (I’m being overdramatic, but I couldn’t care less). It’s a story that has been following me since my childhood and will never truly leave me. My words will never be able to do it justice, but at least, I tried. Writing this post was a cathartic experience for me, because I know that my words are stocked somewhere and that I will always be able to reread them. If you read this entire post, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your time means the world to me.